A transportation official defended her agency’s allocation of
$374,000 in federal stimulus funds toward replacement of two
transit buses by noting how the county must follow a spending
formula and there are no other shovel-ready projects eligible for
the money.
A transportation official defended her agency’s allocation of $374,000 in federal stimulus funds toward replacement of two transit buses by noting how the county must follow a spending formula and there are no other shovel-ready projects eligible for the money.
Since the powers that be are requiring counties to spend a certain amount of money on transit capital improvements – being a relatively smaller area, odds apparently left us without a single job-creating option with those funds – we have a suggestion for transportation leaders.
Each of the Council of San Benito County Governments board members – Supervisors Anthony Botelho and Jaime De La Cruz, and City Council Members Doug Emerson, Victor Gomez and Rick Edge – should consider this: Take that same amount being spent on the two buses from a reasonably positioned account and use it all on a project or projects that create jobs as soon as possible.
COG would end up buying the buses either way. Using that same amount on immediate job creation would alleviate the county’s stimulus lag and send a message that local leaders are serious and bold when it comes to reviving the economy.
On one end, the county likely will receive between $2 million and $3 million from the $787 billion legislation. A large majority of those funds are going toward minor road projects that will, indeed, fit into the intention of the stimulus package – to spur economic activity.
But nearly $400,000 will not. In other words, nearly $400,000 that should have helped more locals get to work is, instead, leaving the county while keeping the economic impact from the purchases flat-lined with no additional purpose than keeping things status quo, which simply does not show enough effort from leaders in a community suffering so immensely like ours.
Above all, allocating $374,000 toward immediate job creation would send a message that we in San Benito County understand how every wasteful dollar matters, how every wasted dollar stands to lessen the nation’s chance for recovery.
